NHS ranks 14th in survey of EU health systems

The NHS has ranked 14th in a new survey of health systems in Europe, with the report accusing the health service of delivering mediocre results in several areas.

While the 2015 Euro Health Consumer Index, from private health analyst company Health Consumer Powerhouse, scores the NHS well in some areas – such as reducing deaths from heart attacks, stroke and traffic accidents – it identifies several aspects of the health service that need improvement.

These include long waiting times for GP appointments, A&E, and CT scans – which the report notes are tied to low accessibility (the NHS is tied with Poland and Sweden as the worst among European healthcare systems) – as well as low access to new cancer drugs and failing to deliver improvements in quality of care made by other countries in Europe.

The report also blames poor accessibility and an “autocratic” top-down management culture as the reasons for he UK healthcare system never making it into the top 10 of the EHCI.

It ranks the Netherlands as the best-performing health system, followed by Switzerland and Norway.